49 News at 10.
Good evening, I'm Jana Corey.
And I'm Matt Brennan. Thanks for joining us.
Topeka is one step closer to a river paradise.
And now a flood of opinions are coming in about how riverfront development would impact Topeka.
49 News reporter Natasha Tralfa joins us now live in the newsroom with more on how the plans sped up today.
Jana, Governor Sebelius signed Senate Bill 575 today, giving the OK for the city to move forward with plans to build up the Topeka riverfront.
I spoke with those for and against the development about what that would mean for the city.
We need to take a look at a plan and see what we can do and see if it's something that we can move forward on, piece by piece. It all won't happen at once.
Kristi Caldwell with the Topeka Chamber of Commerce says even though it's a long ways down the road, Topeka is on its way to riverside fun.
But some city council members say building up the riverfront would put too many irons in the fire.
We need to try to complete the things that we're in process of doing right now before we take on too much.
City Councilman Brett Blackburn says he's not against building the riverfront, but he is concerned that if the city fails to get private investors, taxpayers will be saddled with the cost.
That's an expense Blackburn and Topeka business owners say their wallets can't handle.
To me it's just a big waste of money. They have 10 tons of things in this city that need done more than more entertainment.
I mean they've let everything go to Wanamaker to begin with. The city of Topeka is drying up.
But some feel building up the river area will bring more people to Topeka and give the city a much needed facelift.
I think it's great. I think we need something like that in Topeka. I don't know, it just adds something more to it because we're getting a lot of people that doesn't want to live here.
Well the Chamber of Commerce is turning to other cities who have built successful riverfront projects for advice like Oklahoma City and Omaha.
Some worry that the Topeka Riverfront project might have the same fate as its neighboring city to the east.
Lawrence, you know, they thought one of their end-all get-alls was going to be the new riverfront mall.
Well of course now that's all pretty much offices. They don't have the riverfront shopping and everything they did.
You know, it was a great idea but it really didn't tie.
Blackburn says he wants to see the city grow, but he says it needs to happen in baby steps.
We just, we get, our eyes get real big wide and we hear these things and we want to do all these wonderful things.
But I think what's more realistic is trying to figure out what we have, what goals are attainable.
Now planning for this project is still in the very early stages.
Some possibilities for the area range from walking trails and parks to dining, shopping and other entertainment industries.
Live in the newsroom, Natasha Troupe of 49 News.
Alright, thank you Natasha.
Another lovely day. Janet, did you get outside there today?
I did. Spent some time outside this afternoon and tonight it's still warm out there.
Just lovely.
Really is beautiful, but apparently we have to brace for some storms ahead.
We want to check in with Chief Meteorologist Matt Miller and are we still talking about tomorrow afternoon?
Yeah, tomorrow afternoon and evening. Looks like we're bracing for a pretty major severe weather outbreak across the region.
As we head into the late afternoon and evening hours, a very impressive setup.
In the last 30 minutes we've gotten new model, computer model information coming in and it's looking a little bit more ominous for late tomorrow afternoon and evening.
We'll give you some of those details in just a moment.
Right now we're looking at Titan Doppler 49.
One storm that blew up across northern Shawnee County has lifted up toward the Atchison area and just west of Atchison and has really fallen apart.
These are leading disturbances that are coming through, producing some precipitation.
Tomorrow is the main event for this storm system.
As a dry line and cold front come together and push across the middle of the state, the computer models are indicating it won't rapidly push across,
which means it's going to give more time for storms to develop across central and eastern Kansas, mainly eastern Kansas.
So most of our region with this in mind has been placed in what is called a moderate risk area from the Storm Prediction Center.
You see that in yellow. Slight risk area includes our western counties.
We'll take a little closer look here.
Again, what we're talking about is not a slight chance of storms developing.
It's a slight risk that in any given location to the west that there will be some severe weather.
A moderate risk of severe weather includes Topeka, Lawrence, Hiawatha, up toward Marysville and fairly close to the Manhattan and Emporia areas as well.
Hail and high winds, the primary threats, but the newest computer model information is indicating, though, we cannot rule out tornadoes
and perhaps the system's a little bit more configured for at least a few tornadoes tomorrow as a part of this overall system.
Again, the worst weather will still be east of us over into Missouri as the storms really have time to develop.
Tonight mainly dry, a few showers of storms around, lows only around 60.
South winds of 10 to 20 go up to 30, maybe 40 miles per hour ahead of the system tomorrow and then as everything develops,
we could begin for a major severe weather day tomorrow. We'll have more details coming up in just a few minutes.
Thank you, Matt. New at 10 tonight, an outbreak of mumps in Kansas has officials worried about a connection to an epidemic in another state.
Douglas County health officials are looking into the spike that now totals 11 cases.
Now compare that to 17 cases total for a 10-year period from 1994 to 2004.
Now health workers are trying to determine if the Kansas cases are connected to the mumps outbreak in Iowa that has reached 245 cases.
Also new at 10, a semi rolled over in Shawnee County, sending two people to the hospital.
Police blocked off a section of Highway 24 earlier tonight while debris from the accident was cleaned up.
The semi rolled near the Oakland Park Expressway when it failed to go around a sharp curve in the highway.
Officers say drivers need to slow down when taking turns as sharp as this one.
Well, obviously when you come to a curve at this speed, you know, you're exiting from one highway onto another highway and you got a pretty good curve here.
You don't know what's around the corner. You want to slow down and take a little extra time to negotiate the curves since you can't see what's ahead of you.
Officers say the passengers suffered only minor injuries.
Police are still investigating to find out if driver error or a mechanical problem caused the accident.
Topeka's police department is facing a shortage of reserve officers.
Doug Hickman works for the 190th Air Refueling Wing at Forbes Field during the day, but at night he serves as a reserve officer.
The Reserve Officer Program has been in place for more than 50 years, but is now at only half of its normal strength at 13.
Reserve officers have the same duties as regular officers, but they volunteer their time.
When we come out to help them, we are assisting them.
Take some of their workload off of them, it gives them an extra back, maybe it gives them an extra break for their lunches, their dinners, whatever they need.
Reserve officers go through 300 hours of training and face a rigorous selection process.
For more information about becoming a reserve officer, you can visit our website at 49abcnews.com.
Tonight, state officials are setting their sights on regulation as they expect thousands to apply for concealed weapons permits.
The conceal-and-carry bill became law in Kansas last month.
Today, Attorney General Phil Klein met with members of a task force assigned to the issue.
They are drafting regulations for the new law and outlining the licensing process to carry concealed weapons.
People can begin applying for those licenses in July.
Some lawmakers want to take sex education in the classrooms one step further and add abortion education to the list of covered topics.
A bill working its way through the state house requires lessons on abortion to be added to the sex ed curriculum.
This includes fetal development and details of the abortion procedure.
Supporters say students should know all the facts, but others say it's just too much.
There certainly is nothing wrong with letting them know if you do become pregnant.
This is what the child looks like. These are the different facts about the child's development.
One quick look at it would tell you that this is nothing that parents really want. It wasn't good sex education.
The House passed the bill last Friday. The Senate will likely pick it up when they return for the veto session in late April.
Next time you plan on testing your luck at Harrah's Casino in Jackson County, get ready for a test of your patience.
In the last six years, there have been more than 50 accidents at this intersection of 150th Road and US 75, the turnoff point for Harrah's Prairie Band Casino in Jackson County.
We've seen quite a few accidents that have happened here, crashes that have occurred when people have pulled out into not leaving enough gap.
That's why an overpass is being built to minimize the risk of future accidents by eliminating the need to cross the fast-moving highway.
Any time that we can come in and build an interchange, which is a much safer way to have people get on and off of a freeway,
and then also close down some corresponding access points along the way, that's just going to make the road safer because it takes out those conflict points.
Starting next week, 150th Road will be shut down Monday through Thursday, sunup through sundown.
The closure will last for about three weeks while construction crews complete the beginning phases of the $11 million project.
And if in fact you are intending on visiting the casino during the construction hours, those who work over at Harrah's say that the detours won't be that much of an inconvenience.
Detour, it's only about a three to five minute drive. It keeps our customers on paved roads all the way to the casino, so we really anticipate that it will be a minimum impact.
Plus, 150th Road will remain open Friday through Sunday when the casino is at its busiest.
But while the closure is in effect, casino-goers will have to make the turn onto 158th instead of 150th.
In Jackson County, Craig Gold, 49 News.
And that project is expected to wrap up in November.
Well, get ready to reach for your raincoat and your umbrella.
That's right, the storms are brewing.
Take a look outside on our Topeka Skycam.
Chief Meteorologist Matt Miller will pinpoint when the storms will strike next.
49 News with the 49 News team. Janet Corey, Matt Brennan, Chief Meteorologist Matt Miller, and Sports Director Nick Griffith.
49 News at 10.
Well, good evening to you. We've got a potential for severe weather tomorrow looking a little bit more ominous than it was even earlier in the day today as the newest computer information coming in even within the last 30, 35 minutes has really shown a market increase on all of the parameters we look for for severe weather, all kind of coming together late tomorrow afternoon and evening across parts of eastern Kansas.
We'll talk more about that in just a few minutes.
Right outside we do have strong gusty south winds and more humid conditions a muggy night out there and very warm for this time of year.
We're way above our normal high at this hour. So we're looking at very warm conditions. Titan Doppler 49 is all dry across the area.
We're scanning the entire eastern two thirds of Kansas and really no precipitation other than that little shower up in Atchleton County that's falling apart and one little lone little shower east of Kansas City.
As far as what we looked at today high temperatures 89 in Garden City at 81 in Topeka 82 in Emporia as well as in Salina 81 and 47 the official numbers from billard airport 63 and 40 the normals again we're way above that 63 even right now with those strong southerly winds still at 13 miles per hour 17 miles per hour in Emporia and a 15 mile per hour breeze in Concordia holding temperatures up into the low 70s although a little bit cooler up around Hiawatha and St. Joseph low to mid 60s right now.
What we've got statewide is a large area over 70 degrees again thanks in part to some clouds and south winds as well as the middle of the state seeing a lot I should say middle and eastern sides of the state seeing a lot of moisture returning to the area notice the dew points 57 and haze 60 and Salina 57 and Topeka and some mid 60s across Oklahoma should try to work their way in the computer models are indicating this cold front dry line combination a lot of times we'll talk about one of the two these are merging together over the middle of the state and pushing through the
eastern side of the states late tomorrow that arrival time is being pushed off a little bit later why that's important for us is there'll be enough time now for these thunderstorms to develop as they move on into the region and especially western areas where we're thinking the severe weather threat was very low now a moderate threat with the greatest threat off to the east again we'll talk about this in detail again tomorrow morning on good morning Kansas be sure to wake up and watch for that because there's a lot of new information that will come in overnight right before this event unfolds during the day showers
have been breaking across the mountains and notice areas of snow developing that is that cold core to this low pressure system and indication of just how cold it is and here's a look at it on our jet stream flow here's a higher winds coming in watches a system moves right into Kansas during the day tomorrow that's going to provide the energy what else we'll have at the surface again dry line and cold front merge across Kansas and push their way eastward low is to our north and that's going to allow for a south or southeast wind at the surface and those south winds aloft cross each other gives the chances
for storms to rotate that's a big concern for tomorrow storms developing along the eastern half of the state and working their way into Missouri and an area that has already been outlined as a moderate risk area slight risk to the west this is again the early indications the storm prediction center will look at all the new information and potential for an upgrade especially points to the east to a high risk is at least there we're going to be watching this there's one negative factor to all of this and there's a the suppressing layer that may stop some of these storms from forming for
a while but once they break through that very violent thunderstorms will be possible especially in the eastern half of the area tomorrow hail high winds and tornadoes all the risk for tomorrow now here's the thing it will be isolated in nature the bottom line for all of this for late tomorrow is there again most of the threats are in place that we look for they may have that difficult time breaking through that capping that will have where that will suppress some of the storms the ones that do form will be discrete meaning they can completely function on their own not a squall line which individualized storms and the overall severe weather
threat because of all that does appear a little bit more impressive than it did as as much as just a few hours ago so we're looking at what looks like a a little higher risk going into the day tomorrow low sixties in the morning a very warm start to the day will warm up into the upper
seventies and low eighties storms will start breaking out during the afternoon and early evening and then push away during the night will look for possibly another round wrapping back around the backside of the system and some colder air on Friday notice the temperatures
forties fifties and maybe up into the sixties and any storms that form on Friday could bring us some hail so for tomorrow 81 degrees for council grove strong gusty southwest winds to the west a slight chance of storms windy in Manhattan 81 again the farther east
and 1082 degrees and Oscar Lusa 80 those afternoon storms hail high winds and the potential for some tornadoes and then on Friday we'll look for more of a potential for just hail on any storms that form and then drier cooler weather for the weekend it's going to be windy for the next two days the risk tomorrow afternoon and evening is appearing to be a little bit more great I think we'll have at the very least a lot of storms producing severe weather the individual nature means some areas will miss out entirely but the risk for a lot of storms is certainly going to be there and could be violent storms late tomorrow we'll keep you posted
all right thank you
players are awaiting the results of dna tests of players duke's president has canceled the team's season last year the team appeared in the ncaa national championship game a tape from the cockpit of a plane that crashed on 9-11 will help decide whether al-qaeda conspirator sakarias musaoui will die the tape comes from flight 93 that crashed in pennsylvania it will be played for the first time in public as part of musaoui's sentencing trial jurors will decide whether he deserves death or life in prison for his role in
9-11 a homeland security department spokesman is in jail tonight accused of trying to lure a 14 year old girl over the internet brian doyle had a court hearing in washington today after being arrested tuesday night police say doyle sent pornographic material and explicit messages to an undercover agent posing as a 14 year old girl friends and family say they are shocked about his arrest i can't believe that he really was a fine
outstanding man everything i knew about it department officials say doyle is on unpaid leave and has had his security clearance employee badge and facility access suspended federal aviation officials today ask congress to intervene in a bitter contract dispute with the nation's 14,000 air traffic controllers the head of the federal aviation administration says final offers were exchanged last night but the parties are too far apart on pay congress has 60 days to get involved if
not the f-a-a will set its last and best contract offer union officials say that would cause a wave of retirements still to come a local basketball player is on her way to the w-n-b-a find out who later in sports plus when these people should be grabbing some z's they're reaching for twinkies and oreos coming up we have more on this nocturnal noshing stay with us
sure pond is heavy
the sleeping pill andy and was blamed for people unwittingly getting up in the middle of the night to eat but as 49 news reporter jessica level explains that medication may not be the only culprit
bill lehner says he used to get up two to three times a night to snack in his sleep in the morning i would go to the sink and find out that i had to eat ice cream or or something and really didn't have a recollection of it though his weight stayed pretty much the same the lack of z's left him exhausted i'm not sure why i was doing it researchers at the university of pennsylvania say it could be one of several reasons for instance we have a problem with the
night eating syndrome people oftentimes don't eat breakfast they might eat a lunch although that might even be delayed and they'll eat 25 percent or more of their food after the evening meal depression and stress have been associated with night eating and in a recent study dr lungren linked it to alcohol abuse and obesity obese people actually had five times the likelihood of meeting criteria for night eating syndrome and i am quite sure that the
night eating syndrome is a good thing for people who have a bad eating habits and the reason i mentioned that is because of the
with night eating and in a recent study Dr. Lundgren linked it to alcohol abuse and obesity.
Obese people actually had five times the likelihood of meeting criteria for night eating syndrome
compared to normal weight individuals. In another study doctors wanted to see if an
antidepressant could curb nocturnal noshing. These are drugs that affect serotonin and they
can help depression but also other conditions like anxiety disorders and now it looks like
night eating syndrome. Dr. O'Riordan says 70 percent of participants showed improvement
of their symptoms. Of those who get better with the medication 50 percent will get better in the
first four weeks but the other 50 percent is in the second four weeks. Bill took part in the study.
I sleep much better now than I did then. I now sleep straight through pretty much from about 11
till seven in the morning. As for night eating he's no longer losing sleep over it. Jessica Lovell,
49 News. Between one and two percent of Americans have night eating syndrome. Some doctors are using
the medication Zoloft to treat patients with the disorder. Tonight a man who sued the maker of Vioxx
is awarded four and a half million dollars. A New Jersey jury found Merck liable for John McDarby's
heart attack. The man's attorney calls the victory against drug maker Merck quote a victory for
100,000 Americans who had heart attacks from Vioxx. Well coming up a Washburn basketball star is
taking her game to the next level. Find out who. Also ahead line them up. Heartland Park gives the
green light on their drag racing season. What racers are burning rubber tonight? Sports is next.
Well it was announced today that Washburn's Jennifer Harris is taking her game to the
professional level. With the 21st pick of the 2006 WNBA draft, Chicago Sky selects Jennifer Harris
from Washburn University. See it there today's WNBA draft. Chicago Sky selected Harris as the
20th overall pick in round number two. A Washburn transfer from Trinity Valley Community College in
Texas back in 2004. New Jersey native led the Lady Blues to a national championship in 2005.
Not to mention a national record 51 straight wins. The 510 guard finished her collegiate career with
a top scoring average in Washburn history 22.3 points per in 69 games. She's the first ever player
in conference history to be selected to the WNBA. She's one of only four other non-D1 players to be
drafted today which makes it all the more special for Harris and her proud supporters at Washburn U.
We try to tell kids when they come in here that they're going to get a division one experience and
they're going to play against great players and they're going to play in a tough league. It's
going to still give them the opportunity to do what they want to do and so she took took advantage
of what she was still doing playing basketball. Made the most of it. Used her options and
still was able to accomplish exactly what she wanted to do. Win a lot of games. Be a part of
a very good basketball team. Help this program build where it is today and to get her dream of
playing in WNBA. Draft day not so good for KU star Crystal Kemp the Topeka native despite being a
pre-draft Kemp invitee watched three rounds and 42 picks go off the board without her name being
called. Kemp in her senior season led the Jayhawks in scoring and rebounding. In addition she was a
first team all-big 12 selection and led the Hawks to the second round of the WNIT. The Bob Huggins
era at Kansas State is officially 13 days in and in addition to some hot and heavy recruiting
Huggins is also in the process of assembling his coaching staff. The 52 year old head coach named
on Frank Martin and Delante Hill as assistants today. Martin a 21 year coaching veteran comes
from Cincinnati where he worked with Huggins throughout the 2004-2005 season. Hill meanwhile
has spent the last three years as an assistant at Charlotte. He spent time coaching the AAU ranks
and is expected to be what Huggins calls a huge asset for recruiting. Speaking of recruiting the
Kansas City Royals went out and spent some 14.5 million bucks this offseason to bring in some new
talent. Now two games into the 2006 campaign and still very little payoff. Tigers Royals back at
it today from the K and after three solo home runs for Detroit on Monday they had the home run sticks
out again today. Top of the fifth Brandon Inge taking Joe Mays the starter deep solo shot to
right center. Tigers lead a 4-0. Later that same inning one man on this time it's Ivan Rodriguez.
Pudge five for five today five RBIs this one a towering shot to center just like that six
nothing Tigers. Bottom of the seventh ten nothing Detroit pretty much the only highlight for the
Royals on the afternoon. Emile Brown with a two run shot to deep left field just misses the fountains
out there. That'll score Doug McKavich Royals down 10 to 2 not a good day for Royals pitchers to say
the least. Tigers five home runs this afternoon Detroit sweeps the two game set with a 14 to three
win. All right racing right along Heartland Park dropped the green flag on their drag racing season
this evening. Oh yeah first of 10 street legal drag showdowns revved into action everything from
souped up muscle cars to crotch rockets to baby dragsters and well even your run of the mill Dodge
Neon made an appearance at the open registration drag series for just 10 bucks any driver driving
pretty much any type of vehicle can compete in either grudge and or time trial racing the
driver gets several passes down the strip each time enhancing his need for speed.
You let loose it just goes and throws you back in the seat it's about it'll be about a 2g
acceleration initially and then it it windles down as you go down the street
you know it's fun. All right so we had a little problem with the audio there anyways more news
weather coming up right after the break but first here's a look at the complete college
baseball and softball scoreboard.
We made an appointment with Penwell Gable and with the simplicity of one call they helped to select
a funeral plan that was right for us a lovely space at Penwell Gables Memorial Park Cemetery
and a beautiful granite marker and Penwell Gable worked within our budget saving us a lot of money
and now we have peace of mind and our family won't have to worry about planning our funerals.
Penwell Gable funeral homes crematories and cemeteries a tradition of caring since 1893.
A potential for a severe weather outbreak tomorrow especially the area shaded in yellow
and the moderate risk for severe storms those storms could have hail damaging winds and even
the threat of tornadoes as we head into the late afternoon and evening hours tomorrow we'll keep
you posted. Thanks for joining us have a great evening. Good night.